To the editors:
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For starters, no child can identify with fantasy stories such as this, or fit in. I couldn’t understand why Ms. Calhoun thought that stories about the Coast Guard, raccoons, etc. are not better for the children to read, although such things can be easily explained, in fact, should be learned. I’m sure, children know what a guard is (they must have security guards in the buildings they live in), as well as what the coast, freight, and boats are. With regard to that a poor child does not have much of a chance to be in a boat or see a raccoon, there are many middle-class children who have never been in a boat; nor do all middle-class children (even adults) have seen a raccoon, save perhaps in the zoos which are also accessible to poor children like Victor.
Therefore, Ms. Calhoun does not sound convincing in blaming Victor’s poverty for his inability to read. But then quite a few teachers today find it easier to heave a sigh about the futility of trying to teach poor children than to bother finding constructive ways to do so, thus, they would rather leave it at that.
